The field of the present invention relates to monitoring methods and techniques for systems employing electronic article surveillance (EAS) tags or radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. In particular, methods and apparatus are described herein for monitoring performance and effectiveness of EAS deactivations systems and RFID readers. In addition, improved host communications are disclosed.
Many retail checkout and inventory control systems employ RFID readers or EAS tag deactivation devices. Electronic article surveillance (EAS) systems have employed either reusable EAS tags or disposable EAS tags to detect articles for prevention of shoplifting and unauthorized removal of articles from store. Reusable EAS tags are normally removed from the articles before the customer exits the store. Disposable EAS tags are generally attached to the packaging by adhesive or are disposed inside item packaging. These tags remain with the articles and must be deactivated before they are removed from the store by the customer.
One type of EAS tag comprises a length of amorphous magnetic material which is positioned substantially parallel to a length of magnetizable material used as a control element. When an active tag, i.e., one having a magnetized control element, is placed in an alternating magnetic field that defines an interrogation zone, the tag produces a detectable tag signal. When the tag is deactivated by demagnetizing its control element, the tag no longer produces the detectable tag signal and the tag is no longer responsive to the incident energy of the EAS system so that an alarm is not triggered. Such deactivation of the tag can occur, for example, when a checkout operator in a retail establishment passes an EAS tagged article over a deactivation device located at the checkout counter thereby deactivating the tag.
Generally, deactivation devices of tags include a coil structure that may be energized to generate a magnetic field of a magnitude sufficient to render the tag “inactive.” In other words, the tag is rendered no longer responsive to incident energy applied thereto to provide an output alarm or to transmit an alarm condition to an alarm unit external to the tag.
RFID technology uses electromagnetic energy as a medium through which to send information. Typically, RFID tags are affixed to various articles for allowing identification of articles in a sales transaction or tracking movement of the articles through a business location. In a typical RFID tag system, a receiver and some type of transmitter, an antenna, and memory are implemented. Through the use of these components, RFID tags are enabled to receive, store, and transmit article-identifying data to/from a remote data base station without the manual handling operations as is required in most bar code systems. RFID tags may be read-only or read-write. Passive RFID tags may be implemented without batteries and draw their power from the radio frequency (RF) energy transmitted from the reader. RFID tags may be low or high frequency depending on the application.
Deactivation of an EAS tag attached to an article is sometimes ineffective for various reasons. This failure to deactivate can result in false alarming of the EAS system which is undesirable. Performance deficiencies in deactivating an EAS tag may result from any of several causes, such as poor quality or damaged tags, improper use of the EAS deactivation equipment, improper placement of the EAS tag on the item, or degraded performance in the deactivation equipment.
If quickly detected, a failed attempt to deactivate an EAS tag may be overcome by a manual re-try; the operator presses a button to manually deactivate the tag. However, this procedure presents a security risk as a tag manually deactivated may not be the one attached to the item just scanned. Thus the present inventors have recognized that it would be advantageous to detect and capture manual deactivations for subsequent processing.
In addition, other EAS activities can provide important input to system software, for example in the host or POS, but reconfiguring the interface between the scanner and a POS terminal to communicate real-time EAS activities is complicated and costly. It would be advantageous to communicate various EAS activities to a POS terminal using existing hardware and/or software interfaces. In such cases, EAS activities can be processed by changing only application level software. Such changes enable a variety of improvements in scanner/EAS coordination to decrease failure-to-deactivate (FTD) events, reduce operator interaction and reduce theft.
Further, improved integration of EAS systems can be achieved by expanding the existing scanner/POS communication channel to include EAS system status and control commands.
RFID tags and hybrid/combination RFID/EAS tags may also experience performance deficiencies as a result of several causes, such as poor quality or damaged RFID tags, improper use of the RFID reading equipment, improper placement of the tags, or degraded performance in the reading equipment.
The present inventors have recognized the desirability of monitoring the operation and performance of EAS and RFID tags and systems and providing both statistical and performance data as to such operation and performance.